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The sociologist is a person intensively , endlessly, shamelessly interested in teh doings of men.

What is sociological imagination and who coined the term?

C. Wright Mills. It is an awareness of the relationship between individulas and the wider society. I t helps us to thing about life with an outside persepctive and helps broaden our minds. It is the skill to learn past personal experiences and to see how the rest of the world is.

What is verstehen?

german for understanding-which is needed to study without bias.

What type of field is sociology?

it is an interdisciplinary field- which means it can be related to other subjects. Sociology is a natural (?) and social science.

What is the definintion of a science?

a body of knowledge obtained by methods based on systematic observation.

What is the definition given by the book of Sociology?

scientific study of social behavior in human groups, which focuses on how relationships influence people's attitudes and behavior and how societies develop and change.

Describe the relationship of sociology and common sense.

Each piece of information must be tested, recorded and analyzed even if "everybody knows it". Sociologist do not accept sometihg as fact because it is common sense.

What is Sociolgical Theory?

1. a set of statements that seeks to explain problems, actions, or behavior.
2. Effective theories have explanatory and predictive power.
3. Theories are never a final statement about human behavior.

Describe he development of sociology

-Philosophers/religious authorites of ancient and medieval societies made observations of human behavior- although they did not test or verify.
-European theorists made pioneering contributions to development of science of human behavior.

What are the importances of Auguste Comte and Harriet Marineau in early sociology?

-Aguste Comte- Believed sstematic investigation of behavior was needed to improve society and he coined the term "sociology"
-Harriet Martineau- Studied social behavior in Britain and U.S., Emphasized impact economy, law, trade, health and population could have on social problems. She is most well known for translating Comte's work into english.

What is the importance of Herbert Spencer in early sociology?

Studied "evolutionary" change in society. Social Darwinism. He was popular b/c his ideas allowed the powerful to have reason to be so.

What is the importance of Emile Durkheim in early sociology?

He developed fundametal thesis to explain all forms of society- he said that behavior must be understood within larger social context.

What is Anomie?

The loss of direction felt in a society when social control of individual behavior becomes ineffective. If you feel that a sense of normality has failed. EX: Safe workplace= 9-11 no longer safe

What is the ideal type?

It is a construct or model for evaluating specific cases. It is not necesarrily a positive model, but one that provdes a useful standard for evaluatig other specific cases. The idea was created by Weber.

What is the importance of Max Weber in early sociology?

He believed that to full comprehend behavior, we must learn the subjective meaning people attack to their actions. He employed verstehen- which is seeing how someone else percieves the situation in order to understand it yourself. He also used the ideal type.

What is the importance of Karl Marx in early sociology?

He was a conflic sociologist. He believed that society is fundamentally divided between two classes that clashed in pursuit of interests. He thought the working class should overthrow existing class system. He believed that you need to look at conflict b/w classes/groups inorder to understand society.

What was the importance of Charles Horton Cooley in early sociology?

Observed interactions in small groups that helped him understand the bigger picture.

What was the importance of Jane Addams in early sociology?

Although today she would be more classified as a social worker, then it was called applied sociologist. She combined intellectual inquiry, social service work, and policticl acivism.

What was the importance of Robert Meron in early sociology?

He combined theory and reserch, and developed frequently cited explanaitons of deviant behavior. He also believed that sociology should strive to bring together the macro-level and micro-level approaches to the study of society.

What is Macrosociolgy?

concentrates on large-scale phenomena or entire civilization.

What is Microsociology?

stresses the study of small groups, often through experimental means.

Describe the Functionalists Perspective on sociology.

They emphasize that parts of a society are structured to maintain its stablity. Viewed society as a vast network of connected parts, each of which helps to maintain the system as a whole.

What are the three parts of the functionalist perspective?

-Manifest Functions- institutions are open, stated, conscious functions that involve intended, recognized consequences of an aspect of society.
-Latent Funciotns- unconscious or unintended functions that may reflect hidden purposes of an institution.
-Dysfunctions- element or process of a society that may actually disrupt its stability.

Describe the ideals of the conflict perspecitve.

-It assumes that social behavior is best understood interms of conflict or tension b/w competing groups.
-There is always constant struggle between groups, and one is benefiting from the expense of another. .

Describe the ideals of the interaction perspective.

~Generalizes about everyday forms of social interactions to understand society as a whole. Study of particular things to understand general things,
~Shared meaing of symbols that define our life
~we attach meaning to objects.
~Nonverbal communication.
~understanding humans is like watching a play, there is always a ferformer and an audience

What is the sociological Approach?

Every perspective is equally important.
Gain broadest understanding of society by drawing on all major persepctive, noting where tehy over lap or where they divers.
A reserches work always will be guided by his or her theoretical viewpoint

What is applied sociology? What is clinical sociology?

Applied: the uses of the discipline of sociology with the intent of yielding practical applications for human behavior and organizations.
Clinical: facilitating change by altering social relationships or restructuing social institutions.

What are the steps of the scientific method?

1. Define the Problem 2. Review the literature. 3. Formulate a testable hypothesis. 4. Select a research design, collect and analyze data which includes substeps. a. survey, b. observation, c. experiment and d. Existing sources. 5. Develop the conclusion. 6 ideas for further reasearch which leads you back to 1

What is the operational Definition in the scientific method?

it is an explanation of abstract concept that is specific enought o allow a reseaarcher to asses the concept- detailed definition of the concepts you are going to study. EX: if you are studying the amount of sexual abuse you must define what sexual abuse in your study is, rape, rude yelling, touching etc.

In the Scientific method what is reviewing the literature intail?

finding information that both suppors as well as opposes your argument

What is a hypotheis, variable, independent and dependent

Hydpothesis- speculative statement about relationship between two or more factors known as variables- which are measuralble traits or characteristics subject to change under different condtions.
Independent- causing teh change
Dependent- waiting for the change

In formulating a hypothesis what is causal logic and correlations?

Causal Logic- involves relationships between a condition or variable and a particular consequence, with one event leading to the other
Correlation- exists when a change in one variable coinsides with a change in another...but does not necessarily indicate causations meaning both variables change but dont depend on the each other for the cause of the change. Ex. ice cream sales and murder amounts

What is the difference between collecting a sample and a random sample?

Sample- selected from a larger populations that is statistically typical of that population
Random Sample- when every member of an entire population has the same chance of being selected.

What are the two types of surveys?

Interview- researcher obrains information through face to face or telephone questioning.
Questionaire- researcher uses a printed or written form to pbtain infromation from a respondent

What is Quantitative and Qualitative research

1. Quant- numerical expression or measurement
2. Qual- relies on what is seen in the field and naturalistic settings, give deeper understanding of human life in natural settings.

What are the two types of observation?

Participant observation- when sociologist joins a group for a period to get an accurate sense of how it operates.
Ethnography- efforts to describe entire social settings through extended systematic observations- getting to know about culture

What are experiments and the two different groups asociated with them?

Artifically created stuation that allows resercher to manipulate variables.
Experiamental Group- exposed to independent, Control- no exposed to independent

What is the Hawthorne Effect?

Unintended influence of observers or experiments on subjects

What are two ways of researcing existing sources for your experiment?

1. Secondary Analysis- research techniques that make use of previously collected and publically accessible information and data.
2. Systematic coding and objective recording of data, guided by some rationale.

What are the Ethics of research?

Do no harm, confidentiality, research funding, Value Neutrality- personal feelings cannot allow their personal feelings to influence the interpretaiton of data

What is Culture?

Totality of learned, socially transmitted custons, knowledge, material objects and behavior. Culture can refer to a locale proximity of people, big picture or smaller. Culture includes ideas, values, customsn and artifacts of groups of people.

What is a society?

A large number pf people who live in the same territory, are relatively indepent of people outside the are, and participate in common culture.

period of maladjustment when nonmaterial culture is still struggling to adapt to new material conditions.

What is sociobiology?

systematic study of how biology affects human social behavior. ex. women are biologically nurtuing because they can have children. Sociobiologist assert that many cultural traits are rooted in our genetic makeup.

What are beliefs about different cultures?

Each culture considres its own ways of handling basic societal tasks to be "natural"
Culture is learned and transmiteed through hman interations within specific societies.

What are different elements of culture?

Language, Norms, Sanctions, Values

What is language?

abstract system of word meanings and sysmbols for all aspects of culture. Can derine the way we see and understand the world (Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis)

What is a norm?

They are established standards of behavior maintained by a society. These include:
Formal Norms:Laws
Informal Norms: generally understood but not precisely recorded
Mores: norms deemed highly necessary to the welfare of a society
Folkways: norms govering everyday behavior

What are sanctions?

Penalties and rewards for conduct concerning a social norm. They can be positive or negative.

What are values?

collective conceptions of what is good, desirable and proper--or bad, undesirable and improper...they influence people's behavior, they are criteria for evaluating actions of others, and people's values may change

What is Dominant ideology?

describes the set of cultural beliefs and practices that help to maintain powerful interest, including social interestes, economic interests and political interests. These are used to justify behavior.

What is a subculture?

Segment of society that shares distinctive pattern of mores, folkways and values that differ from the latger society

What is an argot?

speicilized language that distinguishes a subculture from the wider society.

What is a counterculture?

a subculture that conspicuously and deliberately opposes certain aspects of the larger culture. ex: hippies, and terrorist

What is culture shock?

Feeling disoriented, uncertain, out of place, or fearful when immersed in an unfamiliar culture, you can experience it or inflict it.

What is ethnocentrism?

the tendency to assume that one's own culture and way of life represents the norm or is superior to all others.

What is cultural relativism?

people's behaviors from the perspective of their own culture

Describe the cases of Isabelle and Genie

these girls were isolated from human contact, or much human contact, and they emphasize the importance of the earliest socilization experiences for children.

What are teh studies of identical twins?

They are studied to see whether nature is greater than nuture. Studies separated twins and compares and contrast their differences.

What is the self?

Defined by Mead- the self is distinct identity that sets us apart from others. not a set phenomenon because it continues to develop and change througout our lives.

What is the looking glass self?

Cooley's idea. We learn who we are by interacting with others, our view of ourselves comes from contemplation of personal qualities and our impressions of how others perceive us. ***The self is the product of our social interactions with other people***

I am who I think you think I am. How is this so?

1. Imagine how we present ourselves to others
2. evaluate their reaction
3. enternalize the reaction

What are the stages of self according to Mead?

Preparatory Stage- children imitate people around them
Play Stage: children develop skill in communicating through symbosl and role taking occurs.
Game Stage: children of about 8 or 9 consider several actual tasks and relationships simultaneously.

Who are considered Generalized others?

Anybodies attitudes, viewpoints and expectations other than the child and their significant others.

Who are significant others?

Individuals most important in the development of self, usually family.

What is impression management?

the individual learns to slant the presentation of self to create distinctive appearances and satisfy particular audiences.

What is face work?

need to maintain proper image of self to continue social interaction.

What is Piaget's psychological approaches to the self?

Emphasizes stages that humans progress through as the self develops.
Cognitive theory of development- identified 4 stages in development of children's thought processes. (formal-operational stage is the final stage of reasoning)
Social interation key to development.

What are Rites of Passage?

The dramatizing and validating changes in a person's status.

What is the Life-souse approach?

Looks closely at social factors that influence people throughout their lives. The most difficult socialization challenges occur in later years of the life course, like retirement.

What is anticipatory socialization?

processes of socialization in which person "rehearses" future occupatiosn and social relationships

What is resocialization?

the process of discarding former behavior patterns and accepting new ones as transtion in one's life. (happens in total institutions)

What are total institutions?

instituion- prison, military, mental hospitals, or convent--that regulates all aspects of a persons life under a single authority.

What is a Degradation ceremony?

ritual where individual becomes secondary and rather invisible in overbearing social environments.

What are agents of socialization?

Family (most important)
Cultural influces
the impact of race and gender
School (2nd most important)
Peer Group
Mass Media and Technology
Workplace
Religion and State